Best Kept Secret 2018 Day 3

The Casbah got the best of me last night so I'm a little slow this morning. But a few litres (yes, we have the metric system over here) of coffee gets me going. So after a while we are heading to the festival site for another glorious day in sunny paradise.

Best Kept Secret 2018 Day 3, June 10 2018

Moaning

Yesterday we spent a lot of time at stage five and we find ourselves back there for the first show of the day with Moaning. Singer and guitarist Sean Solomon looks tiny but packs an amazing baritone. The band have a relaxed and loose way of playing their powerful songs, still the show is very tight. The post-punk songs with fuzzed guitars sound dark and heavy. Once and a while the band goes wild on stage, swinging their guitars around. At the end of the set Solomon balances his guitar on top of his head for the last trick of a very enjoyable show.

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Khruangbin

Since I saw the trio from Houston play the Into The Great Wide Open festival last year the band has created a lot of buzz around them. Their album Con Todo El Mundo is well received and people seem to love the mellow disco and rock n roll sound. I am not that impressed and find it a bit too cheesy and boring. But it has brought them to the second biggest stage of the festival where it has filled up completely, so I'm going to give them another try. Every song is greeted with loud cheers and people are really digging the easy listening tunes. Mark Speer is a skilled guitar player showcasing many styles. I still think it isn't all that special and probably don't really get it.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify

Gang Of Youths

I like the Australian band Gang Of Youths a lot better later on at the main stage. It's halfway the afternoon and it's hot in front of the stage at the lake. The band needs to work very hard to keep people going. The band has studied their rock poses well, especially singer David Le’aupepe. In the end it pays off though and people actually start responding to the band's positive energy. Not all songs are great though, especially the mid tempo pop tunes aren't really memorable. But when the band starts rocking heavily, steering close to Bruce Springsteen and The Gaslight Anthem, they actually have something good going on. In the end the band deserves a big hand for energizing the somewhat apathetic crowd.

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

Rodriguez

The incredible story about Sixto Rodriguez is the subject of the by now well-known documentary Searching For Sugarman. Although it isn't clear to me if the story was made bigger than it truly is, you really wish the old bluesman the best. But the singer looks lost on stage and isn't really capable of playing a truly good show. The eager crowd really wants to give him everything but the show never really takes off. In the end it is the legend that remains but with a bit of a bitter taste.



Official Website | Facebook | Twitter

Ty Segall & The Freedom Band

Fortunately Ty Segall lives up to his reputation. The productive rocker even shines in his best matter with an inspired and lively show. With his The Freedom Band he's standing in half a circle so we can only see him from the back from our bad spot all the way to the right of the stage. Segall seems to be going through all his faces today, moving between garage punk, rock, glamrock and some more of his pop tunes. The pit in front of the stage gets bigger and bigger, while crowd surfers keep popping up. His cover of Hot Chocolate's 'Everyone's A Winner' fires them up even more. Segall definitely is a big winner today.

Official Website | MySpace | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify

Spoon

Spoon is one of those bands that simply is made for festivals like this. Their song writing skills are amazing and live those songs sound better than ever. Britt Daniel is a charismatic singer that knows how to play a crowd. Today he has no trouble getting people into their groovy songs. The wonderful 'I Ain't The One' makes everyone hold their breath and this show only has highlights.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Back at stage Two Ruban Nielson and co have started their set. The band has grown bigger and bigger over the years, but they are known for their capricious performances. I've seen great shows by this band, but today they sound a bit messy. Jumping between songs from their entire catalog, the many styles lack coherence and the band seems less focused. Nielson can still rely on his amazing guitar playing though and a string of very good songs. In the end it leaves mixed feelings about this show.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

Father John Misty

Another good album God's Favorite Customer makes me eager to see Father John Misty. He plays a very smooth running set with a tight band, with a lovely brass section. His rich compositions sound lush today with a well balanced set that never goes weary. He is not in a chatty mood but when you have so many great songs, you can let the music do the talking. That's exactly what he does while the sun is slowly setting.

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

LCD Soundsystem

After two days of headliners that lived up to their huge reputation, expectations are high for James Murphy and co who are closing the main stage. They played an incredible set of shows at Paradiso last September so I kind of thought what to expect. The band has an out of this world set for us tonight though, one that is aimed at a festival crowd that wants to go all the way one last time at the main stage. All hits are lined up in a smooth running show that never seems to have breaks, except for that short toilet break Murphy announces a few songs too early. The huge disco ball was never more at its place than tonight, which turns into a lovely dancing party filled with good vibes. Murphy is clearly having a lot of fun himself, smiling a lot and cracking a few jokes. This is one of those nights where a band and a crowd totally connect for a wonderful unforgettable party. Last year we saw two dream headliners Arcade Fire and Radiohead on this festival, but LCD Soundsystem was probably the perfect headliner for a close to perfect festival.

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | YouTube | Spotify

We head to The Casbah one last time that is exploding with energy. This year's edition was one of the best festival experiences I have ever had and one that climaxed with utter joy and positive vibes. The weather turned out to be perfect, the bands were incredible and the crowd was really into it as well. I think I saw a glimpse of paradise this weekend.

All Pictures

Best Kept Secret Festival 2018 Day 1
Best Kept Secret Festival 2018 Day 2

Read more!

On Stage: Spoon @ Paradiso

American band Spoon keep knocking out one excellent album after another, without repeating themselves and always changing their sound. Their most recent one Hot Thoughts has a great electronic dance vibe to it and I couldn't wait to see them live again. Since Spoon is at its best when the band is on stage.

Spoon at Paradiso Amsterdam, November 10 2017

The group is in great shape tonight. Singer Britt Daniel mentions they are happy with the response here in Amsterdam as he apparently has mixed feelings about the past couple of shows. Indeed the band looks very pleased tonight and is in great shape. They play a cross reference of their amazing catalog including plenty of new songs. Of course they can't ignore killer hit songs like 'I Turn My Camera On' and 'The Underdog'.

Despite all the different kind of songs and variation in sound on their albums, it still is a coherent show they play. The band is so skilled at understanding the dynamics of a song, sometimes going full force with loud guitars, then taking it back again focusing on synthesizers or simply taking a minimalistic approach. But it always carries their unique signature.

Daniel is a charismatic front man that can draw all attention to him, but who will also step away from the spot light to let the rest of the band shine. Often he will drop to his knees to enlarge the dramatic effect without overdoing it. If you look closely there's a lot going on and Spoon is a smooth running machine. This band is absolutely amazing with so many good songs and an incredible live performance, which always makes it a pleasure seeing them play.



All Pictures

Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

Setlist:
01. Do I Have to Talk You Into It
02. Inside Out
03. I Turn My Camera On
04. WhisperI'lllistentohearit
05. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
06. Don't You Evah
07. Do You
08. Via Kannela
09. I Ain't the One
10. Everything Hits at Once
11. Can I Sit Next To You
12. My Mathematical Mind
13. Don't Make Me a Target
14. The Underdog
15. Got Nuffin
16. Black Like Me
Encore
17. I Summon You
18. Metal Detektor
19. Hot Thoughts
20. Rent I Pay


Read more!

Top 10 Albums 2014

To be fair, I don't really care too much about year lists. They don't mean a lot, even though many music magazines aggregate them from many personal lists of people in the industry. But they aren't saying that much, especially when it comes to albums that are not in the top 3. At most the top 3 are albums that are generally considered favourable this year. But people tend to like those lists and ask about them. Since I'm a writer for FestivalInfo and ROAR E-Zine I also have to send in my top ten for their list. So without too many more words, here's mine. Have a great 2015! See you on the other side.

1. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Play in Spotify

2. Shaking Godspeed - Welcome Back Wolf
Play in Spotify

3. Temples - Sun Structures
Play in Spotify

4. Spoon - They Want My Soul
Play in Spotify

5. Future Islands - Singles
Play in Spotify

6. Ty Segall - Manipulator

7. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
Play in Spotify

8. Beck - Morning Phase
Play in Spotify

9. Fratsen - Caspar

10. TV On The Radio - Seeds
Play in Spotify


Read more!

Golden Spoon For London Calling

In the beginning the London Calling festival was all about promoting unknown bands from the London area. This slowly changed to promising Britpop bands and after that to indie bands in general. Now they are also adding established indie bands and this edition no one less than indie veterans Sebadoh and Spoon are lined up for the Saturday of the two day festival. Time to visit the festival again I'd say.

London Calling 2014 #2 at Paradiso Amsterdam, November 1 2014

The festival is always off to an early start, way too early for me, so by the time I arrive at the venue, Sebadoh have already taken the stage.



Sebadoh
Despite the fact this band has been around since 1986 I never saw them play before. They did go on a long break in 1999 and returned to the stage in 2007 for a reunion. Last year they even released a new album Defend Yourself. Bassist Lou Barlow, the only one left of the two founding members, also plays bass in Dinosaur Jr. and is accompanied by Jason Loewenstein on guitar and Bob D'Amico on drums. But the trio isn't having a great night. Besides playing a somewhat obscure set list with not many hits, they look extremely unhappy with their sound. Loewenstein is singing the first half of the show and keeps messing around with his guitar and mic stand. When he switches places with Barlow, this time it is Barlow who is clearly troubled by the sound. It results in a messy performance with lots of breaks and hiccups. Barlow claims "we are terrible at festival shows", followed by Loewenstein: "festival shows are terrible at us". Maybe so, at least tonight is clear they were not having their best day.

Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify

D.D. Dumbo
We watch the show by multi instrumentalist D.D. Dumbo, real name Oliver Hugh Perry, on the screen in the big hall. He brought a pile of pedals and other equipment including a loop station. This seems to be really popular nowadays and Perry uses it creatively while playing a twelve string guitar. It is of course quite clever what he's doing, but nothing we never saw before. Also his songs aren't all very original, but still he's able to play an entertaining set.

Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify



The Mispers
Young band The Mispers are quite excited to play here tonight, especially singer Jack Balfour Scott, who is going through all the rock poses he memorized very hard at home. He's putting way too much cheese on it, together with an annoying effect on his vocals, which is too much in the end. Their songs are very catchy and the violin is a nice addition. It is doubled by keyboard strings a lot though, which is a shame. The keyboard player is also playing bass now and then, which makes it clear they need a bass player, because the songs without bass lack groove. The music needs more variation and without bass it is missing depth, making the songs sound alike a lot. Still this band could get quite interesting in a few years.

Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

Fever The Ghost
The small hall is packed for Fever The Ghost, but by the end of their show it's half empty. Covered in a cape, singer Casper Indrizzo's vocals are distorted most of the time, resulting in a spooky voice. He's backed up by lots of electronic noise, guitar and wild drums. There doesn't seem to be much of a direction in their music and the songs aren't allowed to breath, filling up every bit of space. But once and a while you can hear an interesting part of a song, especially when they take it more easy and get all psychedelic. It is actually quite interesting but this band needs to focus (a lot) and learn that less is more. There's no shortage of ideas that's for sure.

Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify



Josef Salvat
After all this madness, Josef Salvat is taking it more slow. Judging from the big turn up, many people want to hear his cotton candy pop songs. This is working well for him, when he's keeping the songs small. After an intimate moment behind the piano, where he's asking in vain for a moment of silence, the music changes. The band is sticking layers of ugly keyboard parts and noise on top of the songs and is transforming them into mediocre top 40 tracks. I guess that's what Salvat is aiming for.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify



Spoon
Of course tonight's big headliner is Spoon, who came up with one of their best records in their career and probably of this year. They Want My Soul already shows the band is peaking and they are proving that tonight. With a spot on performance, for over one and a half hour, the band is playing perfect indie rock songs. It's a more than convincing show, downgrading all the other bands tonight to support act. Spoon is way too big for this festival, but I'm so glad they are here. The other bands must have watched them in awe, realizing the road to success is still long. That's okay, since it took Spoon twenty years to get to this point. Tonight they got the perfect example on how to entertain a crowd with great songs, played in a very tight way.



Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

After this highlight we call it a day, since nothing can top this any more. It is as if we've witnessed an indie rock master class. Hopefully next time, the upcoming bands can surprise us again as well.

More Pictures

Read more!